Appetite for tuna is threatening to drive rare birds including the albatross to the edge of extinction.

A new study by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) warns that the method used to fish tuna is killing rare birds in unprecedented numbers and threatening to wipe out certain species like the albatross altogether.

The charity estimates that 37 bird species, of which 18 are already at risk of extinction, are being threatened by longline fisheries in the South Atlantic and Mediterranean. The boats throw out a series of baited hooks to catch the fish but before they sink to the bottom birds dive in and become tangled in the lines.